Clarity at the touch of a button: how writing things down changes leadership

The pen as a sparring partner

There is an underestimated phenomenon in everyday management: the moment when a vague gut feeling meets a blank sheet of paper – and suddenly reveals its weaknesses.

Anyone who tries to write down a decision quickly realises whether it is viable. Not at some point in the future, when the consequences become apparent. But right now. In the act of formulating it.

The brain is a master of self-deception. It simulates clarity where there is none. It confuses familiarity with understanding, intuition with analysis. Only writing things down forces precision. What seemed ‘completely clear’ just a moment ago turns out to be surprisingly nebulous when typed.

Writing is not documenting after the fact. Writing is thinking in real time.

Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize winner in physics and notorious clear thinker, summed it up in a formula: ‘If you can't explain something simply, you don't understand it.’ For managers, we could add: If you can't write down a decision in three sentences, maybe you shouldn't make it yet.

The tyranny of open loops

The human mind hates unfinished business. Psychologists call this the Zeigarnik effect: unfinished tasks occupy mental capacity until they are completed – or at least externalised.

For managers, this means that every decision that is not fixed remains a silent passenger. It consumes attention, even when it is not currently relevant. It pops up at moments when other things would be more important. It creates a vague feeling of ‘there was something else,’ without being concrete.

David Allen has turned this into a system. Getting Things Done is based on a simple insight: the mind is a terrible place to store things. What is parked there accrues interest – in the form of stress, forgetfulness and the nagging worry that you have overlooked something important.

The solution? Externalise. Not everything, but the essentials. Not as a chore, but as an act of self-care.

Those who record their decisions free up mental capacity. Those who file them away in a structured manner can let them go. And those who have them presented to them again at the right time don't have to keep anything in their heads that doesn't belong there.

The letter to your future self

This is where the real leverage lies: documentation is not archiving for others. It is a message to the person you will be in three months' time.

That person will no longer know why the decision made sense at the time. They will have forgotten the context, the constraints, the rejected alternatives. They will be faced with the result and wonder what they were thinking.

Or they won't ask – because everything can be read.

Jeff Bezos has established a culture at Amazon that focuses precisely on this: before important meetings begin, everyone involved reads a multi-page memo. No presentation, no bullet points. Prose. Well-thought-out arguments. Not because Bezos likes writing, but because writing forces you to think.

The principle can be broken down to a personal level. A ‘decision memo to myself’ doesn't have to be six pages long. Three elements are enough: What did I decide? Why did it seem right? Under what circumstances should I re-evaluate the matter?

Done. Two minutes of effort. Priceless in six months.

Sharpness through structure

There is a reason why experienced consultants always clarify the problem definition before analysis. And why design thinking begins with ‘define’ rather than “ideate”. Structure forces clarity. Clarity enables good decisions.

This can be applied to personal knowledge management. Tiago Forte's ‘Second Brain’ concept distinguishes between capture and organise – the gathering of information and its meaningful classification. The first step is easy. The second makes all the difference.

A note lying around somewhere is just a note. A decision embedded in a context – a project, a person, a strategic initiative – becomes a building block of a knowledge system. Not as an end in itself, but as a foundation for future action.

The Eisenhower Matrix asks: Is this important? Is this urgent? The smarter question is: Will I still need this in three months? If so, it belongs in a system. If not, it belongs in the bin. There is little in between.

The art of targeted re-encounter

Perhaps the most powerful tool in the arsenal of documenting managers is not the recording itself. It is the resubmission.

The concept dates back to a time when file folders were still physical and secretaries placed folders in resubmission piles. The idea behind it is timeless: not everything that is relevant is relevant now. Some information belongs in the future – on the day it is needed.

For managers, this means that an investment decision should not only be documented, but also have a review date. A strategic decision requires not only reasons, but also a review date. A personnel decision deserves not only context, but also a marker for follow-up.

In practice, the PDCA cycle – Plan, Do, Check, Act – rarely fails at the planning or doing stage. It fails at the checking stage. Because no one remembers what needs to be checked. Because the assumptions made at the time are nowhere to be found. Because the context has disappeared.

Those who not only record decisions but also locate them in time transform their system from an archive into a navigation tool.

The quiet luxury of clarity

In a working world that has declared ‘always on’ to be a virtue, mental peace is a competitive advantage. Managers who know that their decisions are documented sleep better. Not out of naivety, but out of confidence.

They don't have to remember everything – they have a system that remembers for them. They don't have to puzzle over what they were thinking when they made a decision – they can read it back. They don't have to improvise when questions arise three months later – they have the answers. This is not a control freak. This is cognitive hygiene.

One last thought: leadership requires decisions to be made under uncertainty. That will not change. What can change is how we deal with it. Those who write things down think more clearly. Those who structure things act more precisely. Those who revisit things learn faster. Ultimately, good leadership is not about the number of decisions made. It's about the ability to know why you are doing what you are doing at the crucial moment.

Writing things down is the first step. The rest will follow naturally.